O.j. Defense Questions Timing

Witnesses Say They Saw Nothing Odd

July 12, 1995|The Boston Globe

LOS ANGELES - — O.J. Simpson's attorneys on Tuesday raised doubts about a crucial component of the prosecution case: the timing of the two murders on June 12, 1994.

Four people said they heard no "plaintive wail" or saw any dogs between 10:15 and 10:30 near the home of Nicole Brown Simpson that night. Two of them who had met that night on a blind date also said they did not see any bodies or bloody paw prints around the path to the condominium, which they walked by.

"Nothing attracted my attention at all," said Ellen Aaronson, who offered testimony similar to that of her one-time date, Danny Mandel. They were followed to the stand by Francesca Harmon, an employee at a local hotel who said she was at a dinner party near the murder scene and likewise neither saw nor heard anything unusual as she drove by.

A fourth person, Denise Pilnak, said she was positive about her recollections because she is "a stickler for time" and has "lots of clocks in my home."

Prosecutors say Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were killed between 10:15 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. June 12, 1994, an estimate based on the testimony of neighbors who said they heard a dog crying out around that time.

The defense team continued moving at a quick pace on the second day of its presentation.

Shirley Simpson Baker, the accused's eldest sister, said she had spent the night after the murders in her brother's bedroom and was certain that Ronald Shipp, a prosecution witness who suggested that on June 13 Simpson was already plotting his defense, never spoke to Simpson that day. A day earlier, several family members said or implied that Shipp was drunk that evening.

Shipp had testified that when the two were talking privately, the defendant said he dreamed about killing his ex-wife.

Deputy District Attorney Marcia Clark, who employed a gentle manner and quiet voice when questioning Simpson's relatives, shifted into a brusque mode when cross-examining other witnesses.

She challenged major aspects of the accounts from the blind-daters, at times implying they had altered their story or even coordinated a false one with defense attorneys.